Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nino Kalandadze said during a briefing today that MFA didn’t take part in planning and organizing the visit of Patriarch of Georgia to Russia.
“If anyone can play a role in Russian-Georgian conflict regulation, it will only be welcomed”, Nino Kalandadze stated. She says that considering the situation today, it will be difficult to speak about any kinds of breakthrough and positive roles in relations between the countries. “Unfortunately, actions of Russia’s government don’t indicate that there is any governmental interest in normalizing relations with Georgia, especially, when the issue is about returning refugees and occupation of the territories. We are skeptic about the results that we may have in near future. The Russian federation is not ready to have negotiations about the issues. The Russian Federation doesn’t take responsive steps about agreement of non-usage of force”, Nino Kalandadze said. Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia Ilia the Second took part in 18-24 November events devoted to the jubilee of Russian Patriarch. Ilia the Second met with the Russian Patriarch. As he said after returning to Georgia, his visit in Moscow was very important and useful to the country and the church. The Patriarch said that the issue of refugees was underscored. “We spoke about IDPs and we hope they will return to their homes”, the patriarch said. The Patriarch said that he raised issue of transferring the bodies of Georgian Kings Vakhtang the 6th and Teimuraz the 2nd to Georgia the a meeting with the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Patriarch Kirill.